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♦ illlii: ;® Hi^bujays Byu/ays# 



OF TH1 






A BOOK OF INFORMATION, 

flilllil I 



DESIGNED AS A HANDBOOK FOR THE USE OF TOURISTS AND 

ALL OTHERS INTERESTED IN THE HISTORY, SOIL 

AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE PENISULA. 

BY 



E. I. BEALE. 

mommem 

NEWPORT NEWS, VA. 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
[1907.] 









LIB3AJW of CONGRESS f 
Two ©odes Received i 
MAR 4 1907 
_J*opyrt«ht Entry 

/1g-, //- 'foy 

CLASS A XXc„No. 
J COPY 8. ' 

rr- . rrn iB H l i fc wu i Bill , . 



Copyright 1907. 
BYE. I. Beale. 



, b 



PREFACE. 



Re alizing that to attempt to transcribe every note, 
worty incident ot historical interest occurring on the Pe- 
ninsula, or to describe every place made famous by 
such happenings would be a work in which the limits 
of a huge book would be severely taxed, this publication 
does not claim to have entirely covered the field in pre- 
senting the following tacts and descriptive data con- 
cerning the place and times of the begiming cf the Na- 
tion. It has on the contrary kept out of the beaten 
track and refrained from treating of the places made so 
familiar by the popular illustrations, and our search has 
been more for the fugutive facts in history than to re- 
main among those already known. 

In the general construction of our work there has 
become apparent many imperfections. These are due 
in the main to errors of omission, To such of these as 
the reader may find we ask his kind indulgence, in- 
asmuch as the entire work of compilation, illustiating, 
printing and binding has passed through one pair of 
hands. 

We believe that the Peninsula will in time to come 
Le found a treasure trove to the antiquarian and to the 
patriotic American citizen a land of most blessed mem 
ories. To further each of these objects is the purpose 
of this humble volume, and to these ends we dedicate 
its pages. E. I. B. 




MAP OF THE PENINSULA. 



THE 
PENINSULA 



The Lay 

of 
The Land 




FROM EARLY COLONIAL 

days until the present time that ro- 
mantic portion of hallowed ground 
lying between the rivers James and 
York, its eastern boundary washed 
by the long ocean swell rolling in 
between the Virginia capes, has 
been without a true distinctive name. To-day we 
speak with reverence the name "Old Dominion," 
having reference of course to the present State of Vir- 
ginia. And yet when that time worn designation was 
given to this Commonwealth this portion of ground 
was the only spot on the North American continent 
inhabited by the white race. 

EN Dat Virginia Quintum was the motto on the 
coat of arms adopted by the London Company in 1619 
— "Behold, Virginia Yields a Fifth." This was twelve 
years after the landing of the colonists at Jamestown. 
At that time the English crown held sway over the do- 
minions of England, Scotland, Ireland, France (pre- 
sumptively) and Virginia — the fifth dominion. Some 



of the court papers, it is said, referred to the dominion- 
of Virginia, and because of this fact, so states William. 
Henry Lee, the name "Old Dominion originated. 

An English statesman, commenting bitterly upon 
the inflamatory utterance of Patrick Henry in fhe Vir- 
ginia House of Burgesses, said: ''Let us take from Vir- 
ginia her honored name and substitute therefor this 
name: -The Place of Treason." That was certainly 
the English view in the succeeding years and no one 
cherished it more deeply than did Lord Dunmore dur- 
ing his erratic career. And there were no pec pie en 
the continent of North America that resented the mis- 
government of the Crown more than those who dwelt 
in the shadow of the House of Burgesses. 

Coming farther down the years when a giant 
problem was confronting the Federal generals regard- 
ing the best method of marching upon Richmond, this 
section again came into prominence and was desig- 
nated the "Virginia Peninsula" such appearing on 
many of the war records. Later, in deeper signifi- 
cance, tersely "The Peninsula." This later appel- 
lation has more or less clung to the land we are de- 
scribing. In very recent years it has been referred to 
as the "Cradle of the Republic," for it was here that 
two incipient revolutions in the early days of the col- 
onies foreshadowed the rising and final turning of the 
tide in 1776. That this intensely interesting section 
comprising the counties of Elizabeth City, Warwick, 
York, James City, Charles City, New Kent and Hen- 
rico should have become the theatre of the most stir- 



ring events connected with the history of the United 
States has almost been a source of wonderment. Just 
whether or not the patriotic Americans will in the fu- 
ture bestow upon this section a new name remains to 
be seen. For our purpose, however, throughout these 

pages, the term Peninsula, referring to the counties 
above enumerated, will suffice. 






The physical and topographical characteristics of 
the famous peninsula are interesting to a remarkable 
degree. From its hills and streams, from its soil en- 
riched by the alluvial deposits of centuries, much in- 
teresting data may be derived. It is true that the 
Peninsula does not boast of any mineral resouisesyet 
that which she holds in store, and that which is held 
in her note book of time will amply offset any dis- 
crepancy in this regard. 

In movements political destiny chose to] make the 
Peninsula the theatre of most momentous events. In 
like manner nature chose it for vast movement of the 
elements. Far back in time, when the earth was 
young, the Peninsula was without doubt in the form 
of a chain of islands connected by long and dreary 
sand. spits. The topographer notes with keen interest 
the heaping up of places, due to the accumulating ac- 
tion of the waves, a. id corresponding depressions due 
to portions remaining at tide level. In the early days 
the sand spits evidently sheltered deep and dismal la- 
goons, for at the extremity of the Peninsula such a 
formation is quite plain. 



5- 

One of the most remarkable places in this regard 
is to be found at Yorktown. Here the ground is raised 
about thirty feet above the surrounding country. It 
seems that the ancient town is built upon a spot pre- 
pared especially for it. An immense deposit of red 
marl is heaped up forming the strongest foundation to 
be found on the Peninsula, and great boulders of this 
rock marl, roughly hewn into shape, form the walls of 
the old church at this place. Cornwallis' Cave, one 
the places of note at Yorktown and the only cave on 
the Peninsula was probably formed by the quarrying 
out of marl for building purposes. This marl is com- 
posed of myriads of tiny shells, a hundred of which 
could be held upon the thumb nail. 

In contradistinction to this there is a peculiar de- 
pression one mile due north of Newport News — the 
site of an inland sea, as it were — where the vegeta- 
tion has an appearance somewhat similar to a tropical 
region. Great plumed grasses rear their heads a 
dozen feet above the ground. Festoons of moss, dark 
and heavy, unite with the dense foliage in shutting 
out the sunlight from banks of giant ferns. In the 
rainy season this place presents the appearance of a 
tree grown lake, the surface of the ground being at 
dead level with the tide. Here are bred countless 
swarms of mosquitoes millions of which are of the va- 
riety known as anopheles, or the malaria carrying 
mosquito. If it were not for the therapeutic value 
of the salt air as antidote the lower places in Newport 
News wouldjbe pest ridden from this source of infection. 



6. 



In the threatened crusade against the mosquito by 
the general government an important army post (For- 
tress Monroe) will have removed from its vicinity one 
of its principal sources of danger from a yellow fever 
outbreak if this"lake of the woods' Vis treated annually 
to a generous application of kerosene, 

Exploration of the soil in this peculiar depression 
brings forth evidence that this lagoon has existed for 
centuries. The giant trunks of trees are met with 
many feet below the surface of the ground. It is on a 
portion of the Peninsula— perhaps the only place- — 
where excavation to the depth of twenty feet does not 
reveal the presence of marine deposit, and the soil is 
a deep black wood mould superimposed upon a blue 
clay which has the consistency of bar soap. 

This peculiar condition of the soil extends well in- 
to the city of Newport News. Indeed one-half of the 
city is built upon a soil partaking of this nature, while 
a large partis upon sand. The Chesapeake & Ohio 
railway, after it leaves Morrisons, six miles above 
Newport News, has upon its right as it comes down 
the Peninsula, a ridge of sand gaining in elevatien, 
while upon its left stiff blue clay, of which we have be- 
fore spoken, continues to the shores of Hampton 
Roads. Another point of ;dissimilarity between these 
examples of soil formation is that the sand dwindles 
away to a high attenuated point, while the rich black 
soil, with the basis of clay, constantly widens until it 
forms the greater part of Elizabeth City county. 



7- 

While the purview of this volume does not em-, 
brace a critical examination of the terrestial formation 
in its diversified aspects, we realizing such would be 
tiresome to many readers, we prefer, nevertheless, 
not to pass too lightly over this part of our subject. 

The writer has taken specimens of the under soil 
at many places upon the Peninsula. These examina- 
tions have been in many instances at a depth of twenty 
feet and the findings present quite a uniform appear- 
ance as we reach a midway point between Richmond 
and Newport News. 

The Chesapeake & Ohio railway traverses the 
"backbone" of the Peninsula and is in close proximity 
to the great springs which are the source of the fine 
streams which water the Peninsula. The ground falls 
gently away from this ridge until it reaches within a 
mile or two of either great river and then is spread ov- 
er a level plateau. It was upon this plateau on the 
shore of either river that John Smith says the "firste 
plantations were seated, being more soe, however, by 
reason of the^shelter of the forest from the cold wind, 
on the James than the other river. i" 

One peculiar characteristic of the Peninsula is to 
be found in the fact that the streams tributary to the 
James and York rivers and the Chesapeake Bay over- 
lap one another. Thus a traveler up the Peninsula 
will sometimes cross within a few hundred yards two 

i. At the time Smith was writing this river had no name. Later 
it was known as the Kiskiack, taking this name from a tribe of Indians re. 
siding near where Yorktown now stands. In 1624 it was spoken of as the 
Charles river, this yielding in turn to the present name of York. 



8. 

streams ,each of them running in an opposite direction 
Just outside the wall of Brufon Churchyard, to the 
north, is % a ravine leading to "York river, while in the 
garden of the Rectory, just across the street, a sweet 
little spring issues forth to join the James. 

The first place on the lower part of the Peninsula 
where the longsineous streams overlap one another to 
any extent is on a line running from Denbeigh to Big 
Bethel. It is not until we cross these streams, almost 
bisecting the Peninsula, that we find any considerable 
evidence of the formation of marl. This would seem 
to support the theory that beyond this point the upper 
portion was thrown up in violent marine action, while 
adjacent to Newport News and Hampton Roads the 
earth has grown by the tedious accumulative action of 
the tide. 

Soon after the C. & O. railroad was built a well 
was dug at Williamsburg to supply a tank for the en- 
gines. At the depth of thirty feet some of the most 
beautiful crystals of the carbonate of lime were found. 
So clear and glittering were these crystals the finders 
believed that they had unearthed a diamond mine, and 
for a time excitement reigned subsiding only when an 
expert properly classified the stones. A gentleman 
residing in Williamsburg has a large oyster shell com- 
pletely encrusted with the deposit. This incident is 
of value to show how close at one time were the sea 
and the mountains. 

From the line drawn from Denbeigh to Big 
Bethel the composition of the deeper soil changes very 



little throughout that portion of the Peninsula with 
which these pages chiefly deal. The order of forma- 
tion is as follows: . 

i. Marl. Red near the surface but very white 
at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet, merging into 
a delicate blue as it borders on running water. 

2. A very tenacious clay. Usually almost white 
but frequently striated with red and blue. 

3. Gravel about the size of peas. 

4. A conglomerate. Ferruginous sand stone, sand 
clay and gravel. Sometimes clusters of escallop shells 
attaining a size of dinner plates. 

5. A rich red clay. 

6. Subsoil. Sandy on uplands, clayey on 
"plateaus." 

7. Soil. Loamy on uplands, compact but very 
dark and exceedingly fertile in "bottom" lands. 

In arranging the order for describing the forma- 
tion east of our dividing line, or, properly, Elizabeth 
City county, we will reverse the above and thus 
enumerate: 

1. Soil. Very black with great natural fertility. 
Especially adapted to market gardening. 

2. Subsoil. Light, loamy, a tendency to sand. 

3. Sand, clay and gravel. 

4. A very fine, quickly shifting sand —tide-level 
— water. 



An excellent way to study the topography of the 
Peninsula is from the standpoint of the military en- 



10. 



gineer. From the very earliest times of the pioneers 
to that of the great fratricidal struggle of nearly a half 
century ago, the Peninsula has been recognized by 
every general, prominent in his time, as possessing 
superior military advantages. The redoubtable Cap- 
tain John Smith quickly saw the advisability of put- 
ting the Peninsula in a position of defense. In his 
first tour of exploration he was at once impressed with 
the strategic advantages of the Peninsula. When it 
is considered that the colonists had as much to fear 
from England's marauding neighbors as from the In- 
dians, there was reasonjor close topographical study of 
their surroundings. It has often been asked why the 
colonists went as far up the river as Jamestown and 
passed by so much fertile land near the river's mouth. 
In answer to this query we point to the delightfully 
quaint list of instructions given to the first officers of 
the colony, a paragraph of which reads as follows: 

" . . . But if you choose your place so far up 
as a bark of fifty tons will float, then you may lay all 
your provisions ashore with ease, and all the better 
receive the trade of all the countries about you in the 
land; and such a place you may perchance find a hun- 
dred miles from the river's mouth, and further up the 
better, for if you sit down near the entrance, except 
it be some island that is strong by nature, an enemy 
that may approach you on even ground may easily 
pull you out; but if he be driven to seek you a hun- 
dred miles in boats, you shall from both sides of the 



II. 



river it is narrowest, so beat them with muskets as 
they shall never be able to prevail against you."i 

Thus we see that the colonists were in constant 
dread of a foreign foe although apparently isolated in 
the New World, and Captain John Smith, noting the 
narrowness of the Peninsula, early conceived a plan 
to establish outposts where Williamsburg now stands 
as well as above Jamestown, a plan that was immedi- 
ately put into operation. 

It seems that this fear had not subsided as late 
as 1626, four years after the first Virginia massacre. 
Governor Francis Wiatt made recommendation to the 
council at Jamestown to fortify aline from Martins 
Hundred (2) to Kiskiack (Yorktown) to protect the 
Peninsula. In the same year the council at James- 
town, in the transaction of important business con- 
nected with safeguarding the plantations, entered the 
following order: 

"The Court hath thought fitt with ye first means 
for many considerations to seat a sufficient party at 
Kiskiack, both as regards of ye opportunity we shall 
thereby have to annoy the Indians, and as a good re- 

1. Fiske's Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, Vol i, p. 72. 

2. Hundred is a designation frequently f6und in Virginia nomencla - 
ture. The origen of this term is far back in antiquity. In feudal times it 
had reference to a portion of a province large enough to furnish a hundred 
partisans armed and equipped for the service of the baron or lord— such .an 
aggregation as Conan Doyle pictures in the "White Company." In later 
years the "hundred" partook of a somewhat similar meaning as "township" 
or "borough ;" but the original signification was doubtless present when 
Martin's Hundred was established. This place which was the bloodiest 
scene in the massacre of 1622 is at the mouth of Warwick river, about eight- 
teen miles from Newport News. 



12. 



treat and release when we have been overforced by 
too powerful a foreign foe." I 

This turning back to the pages of early colonial 
history is for the sake of showing how closely military 
engineers of a later period followed those at the dawn 
of the American nation. During the operation of the 
British army on ,the Peninsula, culminating in the 
siege a.id capitulation of that army under Cornwallis 
at Yorktown, a temporary line of earthworks were 
hastily thrown up by the British to endeavor to check 
the advance of Lafayette(2) after crossing the James. 
These ancient works are a mile below Fort Magruder 
at a point on the Peninsula where the ridge of high 
ground is nearly bisected by two great ravines, one of 
which runs to an arm of College Creek that empties 
into the James, two miles below Jamestown; the 
other helping to form Queens Creek, a tributary of 
the York, upon which is Capital Landing, one mile 
from the Capital (3) at Williamsburg. The fortifica- 
tion is indented triangularly and is on a straight line 
about five hundred yards long. 

History repeated itself again when the Confeder- 
ate General Magruder threw his long thin line across 
the Peninsula from Martins Hundred to Yorktown. It 

1. See Memories of Yorktown, Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, in the ^Richmond 
Times, Nov. 25, 1894; also Peninsula in History by the author, Newport News 
Daily Press, Feb. 23, 1902. 

2. These earthworks were in such good state of preservation that the 
extreme left of Hooker's division was compelled to light a desperate battle 
before this position was taken. Stedman's notes on the Battle of Williams- 
burg, Mays, 1862. 

3. The Capital was at the eastern end of Duke of Gloucester street. 
The landing spoken of was where the goods of state came ashore. 



13- 

was in the vicinity of the former (Lee's Mill, the site 
of Newport News' reservoir) that another severe bat- 
tle of the Civil War was fought on the Peninsula. 

Military engineers could see at a glance that the 
deep and almost impassable ravines on the higher part 
of the Peninsula, the long, grass-lined creeks of the 
lower counties overlapping one another, the narrow 
passages through which a large body of men would find 
difficulty in passing without being at the mercy of the 
opposing force on either side, all offered the most 
strategic advantages to those on the defensive. 
So at least General McClellan found it, and every 
attempt to reach Richmond by way of the Peninsula re- 
sulted in failure, not because he was opposed by equal 
numbers, for. the disparity between the beligerents was 
always to the disadvantage to the Confederates, but of 
thli superior natural defences the Peninsula afforded. 

The water supply of the Peninsula is enormous. 
Meteorological conditions are such in this latitude near 
the ocean as to cause an abundant rainfall. The un- 
derground water-courses are voluminous, and although 
numerous salt marches abound, potable water is un- 
iversally present, except of cource where., it is con- 
taminated by contact with the .tide, by reason of in- 
sufficient drainage by superficial deposit, or when un- 
der the influence of calcium salts it becomes very 
"hard." 

As we approach the mountains volumetric press- 



14- 



ure of subterranean streams is of course greatly aug- 
mented. Injthis regard it is interesting to note how 
these streams gather force as we proceed up^the Penin- 
sula. Illustrative of this we desire to show the corn- 
par itive standing for one month of three large bodies 
of water fed by springs. They are situated six, twelve 
and twenty miles from Newport News, j respectively, 
and offer very fair examples of stability of the Penin- 
sula's water supply:(i) 









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x A very careful survey was made of this pond, 
xx The site of a former millpond. Volume is represented by a large 
stream fed by numerous springs. 

Height of land is expressed in feet. 

The opportunity for studying the effect a con- 
tinued dry spell would have upon the water supply of 
the Peninsula was well afforded at the time this data 
was collected. The month was an exceedingly dry 
October, there being not over forty-eight hours of rain 
during the entire month. Byreferingto the above ta- 
ble it will be seen that rainfall caused a marked fluctu- 
ation of increase in the three stations, the almost im- 



i5- 

perceptible decrease in volume at the greater station 
evidenced the fact that danger of a water famine from 
any considerable diminution of the streams on the Pe- 
ninsula is out of the realm of possibility, The city of 
Newport News is furnished from this station, and al- 
though this city has more than doubled in matter of 
population, the resources of the powerful streams sup- 
plying the reservoir have not as yet scarcely been 
taxed, while the storage from the vast watershed re- 
mains practically- untouched because for the present, 
at least, pure running spring water is abundant, 

A beautiful natural phenomena is seen in a great 
spring that empties into the reservoir. The water* 
cold and sparkling, gushes forth from beneath an ov- 
erhanging ledge of marl with a peculiar musical sound. 
Roaring Spring is the name given to this fountain out 
of the hill. There are many "of these great springs in 
the vicinity of Williamsburg, and most of them seem 
to issue from far below the immense beds of marl, in 
which ca?e their purity is unquestioned. 

•J5» 0* • 

The flora and forestry of the Peninsula, while 
not particularly distintive from that of adjacent sec- 
tions, deserves, however, some mention in view of 
the relation ■■ both of the subjects bear to the char 
istics of the soih' 

As far as agriculture is '■concerned the realization of 
Its possibilities have never yet been attained under an 
intelligent system of cultivation. Some of the choicest 
bits of farming land to be found in any section 



16. 

have been for the last century weakened down by 
successive crops of corn with hardly a thought of re- 
fertilization. 

We have before remarked the tropical appearance 
of the low ground at the extremity of the Peninsula. 
It is not within our province to treat of this subject 
botanically or to attempt a classification of the plants 
indigenous to the Peninsula. It is a peculiar fact that 
near Williamsburg, where the eountry is very broken, 
is the only place where mountain azalea is to be found 
in this section. This beautiful flower* is present 
in an abundance on the road leading to the Capitol 
Landing. 

A variety of woods is to be found. Pine of course 
predominates. Of this genus there are three kinds usu- 
ally to be found, the "long-leaf," soft grain of the low 
lands, having a heavy cork like bark and of very rapid 
growth, the "short leaf," with a' hard, flint-like grain, 
with a very thin bark and only to be found on the up- 
lands, and a variety known as the "spruce," having 
needles and cones very similar to the tree of that name, 
the grain and tensile strength presenting all the charac- 
teristics of the pine. 

The vagaries of the oak are here fully shown im irri- 
tating many trees of the forest especially the willow 
During the era of wooden ships the sections adjacent to 
Williamsburg, bordering on the waterways, furnished 
much valuable timber to the New England shipyards 

One notable feature of the forests of the Peninsula 
is the number of noble beeches everywhere to be found. 



17- 

Inasmuch as this tree is one of slow growth each one of 
these great beeches is a monument telling of the colon- 
ial day, One notable specimen stands in cannon shot 
of Big Bethel. On its bark in legible characters are the 
names of the boys of *6i, both of the blue and the gray, 

The uplands produce oak, chesnut, cedar and hick- 
ory. Near the water courses are to be found willow, 
ash, sweet gum and maple. Along the shores of the 
Chicahominy cypress is abundant and is to be seen oc- 
casionally on the banks of the James as well as a few 
junipers. In many places on the Peninsula the mistle- 
toe, mysterious bloom of Yuletide, in immense clusters 
far up on the branches of the sweet gum are to be seen, 
and the happy holly in profusion decks the woods in 
emerald and crimson during the season of good cheer. 

The tourist, on going overland to Yorktown, will 
note the great quantity of Scotch broom. The hills 
near the monument are covered with this homely sedge 
giving the ancient town an Old Country appearance. 
Indeed it has of ton been remarked that the bright bloom 
of this wild broom and the quaint houses of the war bat- 
tered town, with the blue estuary of the York to throw 
a dreamy haze over the opposite hills, and^it reouires'no 
great flight of of fancy to imagine ^oneself in* the land 
of Bobby Burns. 

On the sand hills of the greater rivers large areas 
of the prickly pear are often seen forming a curios con- 
trast with its cactus like growth to the familar wild plants 
of this latitude. Another schrub, while indigenous to the 
Peninsula, but is snggestive of a warmer and more arid 




OLD CUSTOM HOUSE. 

STREET VIEW IN YORKTOWN, 



is: 

region, is the prickly ash, sending up its single stem 
eight or nine feet high with its umbeliferated foliage. 

A beautiful variety of ferns is to be found on the 
Peninsula especially near Newport News where their gi- 
gantic growth is palm-like im appearance. 

Frost is seen one or two weeks later on the Eay 
shore on the approach of. winter than in the interior. 
Frequently a light fall of snow occurs on tho uplands 
while on the Bay shore a warm fog neutralizes the effect 
of the cold wave. [The proximity of the Gulf Stream 
renders the winters very warm, the mean temperature 
rarely below 56 F., and the minimum seldom lower than 
28 F. 




w 



IN 

COLONIAL 

DAYS. 






Highways 

and 
Byways. 




THE SEVERAL COUNTIES 
of the Peninsula embrace that part 
of the New World that throbbed 
with sturdy pulse in awakened.civ 
ilisation, hold within their boun- 
daries many places ot protound 
interest to the seeker after 1he 
quaint'and curious in early American history, and a 
visit to these out-o'-the^-way places, while sometimes 
difficult of accomplishing, will, however, acquaint the 
tie tourist with many places almost forgotten. 

Just now we would invite the tourist to roam at will 
over the Peninsula and visit the places that are hallowed 
tecAuse of the quaint happenings and history making 
incidents which brought them into prominence. And 
the sojourn among the memories of the early days mus 
be but transient, for our paths will lay from r/athetic 
Malvern Hill to the low-lying islands of the pecosons; 
from the grim walls of Fortress Monroe to the creamy 
hills that lock the Falls of the James. 



20. 



Martin's Hundreds. 
The reservoir for Newport News is located at one 
of these most interesting spots. Extending a great 
distance over the breadth of the Peninsula is a great 
ravine penetrating almost to Yorktown and almosts bi- 
sects the Peninsula. This forms a division between 
the higher land of the upper counties, and those 

bordering on the bay, and one of utmost importance 
to the colonists as we shall presently see, The main 
stage road through Warwick Countv crosses this ra- 
vine at the most convenient point of passage and the 
road is flanked by verv high hills. This elevation 
has been well taken into account in everv military 
oreration on the Peninsula as elsewhere noted in 
in these pages. A considerable portion ^f this settle- 
ment — which is next with Hampton in age to James- 
town— laid ju c t west of these hills, and was sheltered 
bv them in view of the fjct that an outpost was earlv 
established ^here. This precaution was taken so as to 
give warning to the colonists above of the approach of 
an cnemv from toward the sea, 

But if the strategy of the pioneers was good that 
of the Indians was betler, and to them there was no 
difficultv in reaching the supposed secure location of 
Martin's Hundred, for it was an easv matter for them 
to steal through the swamps and deal this considerable 
settlement a severe blow and cut it off from the other 
colonies. In the massacre of 1622 this manouver was 
successfullv carried out and seventv-four people were 
butchered before the alarm could be given or a warn- 
ing taken. It was the intention of the colonists to so 



21. 

fortify Martin's Hundred on the James as to make it 
equal in strength to Yorktown and thus command all 
of the approaches to the seat of govenment at James 
town, but political perplexities -arose directly after the 

Indian outbreak, besides this calamity so discouraged 
the plantation as to cause its temporary abandoment. 
There is nothing remaining of the original settlement 
or anything to mark the location of its principal build- 
ing. It was in the vicinity of Lee's Mill that the de- 
posed Governor Harvey found a refuge while waiting 
as a prisoner in 1639 to be carried back to England. 

Lee's Mill, or the reservoir is on the Chesapeake 
& Ohio railway with a local stop at the reservoir. 

The Stone House. 

A relic of the olden day which has long puzzled an- 
tiquarians is a mysterious building rudely constructed of 
stone standing on the banks of Ware Creek, which divides 
the county of New Kent from that of James City, and 
known in that section as the "Stone House," and from 
which also a magisterial district in the latter county takes 
its name. 

Many conjectures have arisen concerning this an- 
cient piece of masonry, one of the mcst interesting as 
as the most plausible, is that the adherents of Bacon 
erected it as a stronghold and rendezvous. Other writ 
ers ascribe its origin to a noted buccaneer and its use fo 
the storage of piratical loot, which is not at all plausible 
and still another that the "Stone House" was erected 
by a prehistoric race and ranks in mysterious origin to the 
famous round tower at Newport, R. I. 

The writer has before him Howe's History of Vir- 
ginia, a work especially devoted to the collection of data 



m 

CO 

H 

o 

z 

m 

x 
O 
c 

en 

m 




22. 



of the quaint places of antiquity in the Old Dominion 
Published in 1845 it had an opportunity to discribe the 
places of historic interest before the shock of the Civil 
War effaced so many landmarks. With a thorough- 
ness that is convincing and with the naivete that charac- 
terised the writers of that period it thus discribes the 
''SjoneJHouse:'' 

"The Stone House is distant from the mouth of 
Ware Creek five miles, from Williamsburg fifteen, and 
from Jamestown- twenty-two. The walls and chimney, 
which remain, are composed of limestone. The house is 
eighteen F and a half feet by fifteen in extent. It 
consists of a basement room under ground and a 
story above. On the . west side is a doorway six feet 
wide, 'giving entrance to both apartments. There are 
loopholes in the walls, measuring on the inside twenty 
by ten inches, on the outside twenty by four. The 
walls are in'the "basement two feet thick, in the upper 
story eighteen inches thick. The masonry bears marks 
of being executed with great care and nicety. The 
house stands in an extensive, waste of woods, on a high 
knoll or promitory, around the foot of which winds Ware 
Creek. The structure fronts on the creek, being ele- 
vated one hundred feet above its level, and stands back 
one hundred feet from its margin." 

After carefully surveying the different theories con 
cerning the origin of the Stone House and finding none 
of them satisfactorv, Howe advances another, which, if 
it be true, strikes an interesting "note at once. He makes 
the ancient stone structure the oldest building in the 
state, as well as the oldest milita.iy work in English 
America. And because he can quote from none greater, 
he quotes from the redoubtable John Smith himself as 
follows: 



23' 

'•We built also a fort lor a retreat neere a convenient river, upon a 
high commanding hill, very hard to be asaltei, and easie to be defended 
but ere it was finished this defect caused a stay. In searching our casked 
corne, we found it halfe rotten, and the rest so consumed with so many 
thousands of rats that increased so fast, but their original was from the 
ships, as we knew not how to keepe that little we had. This did drive us to 
°ur wits end; for there was nothing in the country but what nature efforded 

" , . . But the wart of corne occasioned the end of al 

our works, it being work sufficient to provide victuall." — Smith's History 
of Virginia, B. Ill, p. 227. 

This would place the date of the building at least as 
early as the year after the landing at Jamestown. Howe 
argues that as it was "built as a retreat" the idea was 
that it was planned in case of a concerted attack by the 
Indians Jamestown became untenable, the little' block- 
house on Ware Creek, with accommodations quite am- 
ple for the little band, would furnish a safe refuge. And 
Howe argues well, for all who are aquainted with 
Smith's eiriy adventures would at once recognise the 
wonderful foresight of that remarkable man. "Neere 
a convenient "river," and "high commanding hill" of 
course is cumulative evidence in support of the theory, 
and the language : "hard to be asalted and easie to be 
defended" fullv agrees with the character of the build- 
ing, and the primitive mode of warfare of the times. 

The Stone House has apparentlv passei through all 
these years in an unfinished condition. Smith savs: 
"the want of corne occasioned an end of all our works," 
which explains the uncompleted appearance it has worn 
through the.ages. 

The "Stone House" is c' : stant from Toana, a lcral 
stop on the C. & O. Rai'way. twelve miks, and is most 
conveniently reached by livery from that station. 

Turkey Island. 

In Henricc County, equi-distant from Richmond, 
and Roxbury, a local station on the C. & O., eighteen 



24. 

miles, and from Malvern Hill three miles, is a most re- 
markable monument telling of a great flood, which 
for violence must have been quite similar to the great 
political revolution, which it preceded only a few 
years. It is a monolith, eight feet high and two feet 
square at its base, and bears the following inscription: 

"The foundation of this pillar was laid in the calamitous, year 1771 
when all the grreat rivers of the country were swent bv inundat'ons never be 
fore experienced, which chansred the face of nature, and left traces of its vio- 
lence that will remain for ages." [ 

Turkey Island is best reached by team from either 
Richmond or Roxbury. 

The Temple. 

On Temple Farm, one mile fr n m Yorktown, are 
the remains of a peculiar structure, the origin of 
which, like the "Stone House, " is lo^t in antiquitv. 
In form it is not unlike a temple, thus obtaining that 
name, Tradition asserts that the surviving Knights 
the Golden Horseshoe, in memorv of he who led them 
across the mountiins, erecfed the structure as a mys- 
tic shrine, hallowing the resting place of Sir Alexander 
Spottiswood, whose remains are interred a few rods 
awav. 

A Broken Shaft. 

Lving near the shores of the Poquoson River, not 

far from Hunt's Wharf, could be seen, just prior to the 

Civil War, a shaft of white marble, broken six fee* 

from its base, It contained no inscription but bore a 
heraldic device. The mystery surrounding its orm ; n 
and final disappearance remains to day unsolved. 



25j 

York-Hampton Parish Church. 
There is a magisterial district in York County 
bearingthe name of Poquoson (an attempt to Indian-ise 
the physical characteristic of the immediate section.) 
In the earliest colonial day it became a mcst desirable 
place for settlement, being within a few hours ride of 
Jamestown, and contiguous to Kecoughtan — after- 
wards^Hampton — a rapidly growing colonial seaport. 

Within a mile -or two of where the road from Po- 
quoson branches into the main stage road from York- 
town to Hampton, is the site of the old York- Hampton 
parish church. Manv of the old tombs are still in ex" 
istence and tell l>rief stories of some of colonial Vir- 
ginia's illustrious dead. The place is overgrown and 
there is nothing now remaining to suggest the presence 
of a place of worship. It occupies a conspicuous place, 
however, in Meade's Old Churches, to whose pages 
the reader is invited for a more detailed description. 
In 1706 the parishes of York and Hampton were united 
and placed in charge of one minister. The site of this 
ancient church is twelve miles from Hampton and 
Yorktown, and within a quarter of a mile of Smitb- 
ville, where for a number of years a tavern and stage 
relay was kept. 

TWO FORGOTTEN NAVAL HEROES. 

On the Pembroke farm, one mile from Hampton, 
are four ancient tombs, two of which are in memory of 
naval heroes ofTthe colonial day. Another iVthat of the 
Rev. Mr. Andrew Thompson, born in Stonehenge, Eng.. r 
and who was "minister of the^parishf spoken of jn above 
article,' and'died Sept. n, 17 19/ aged 46~years. 

The first "stone we shall describe is that of John 



26. 

Nevill, Esq., an admiral in the English navy. The in- 
scription is as follows: 

Here lies the body of 

JOHN NEVILL. ESQ., VICE-ADMIRAL of 

HIS MAJESTYES fleet and COMANDER in 

chief e of ye squadron cruising 

in the West Indies 

who dyed on ye Cambridge, 

ye 17th day of August, 1697, 

in the ninth yeare of the reigne of 

WILLIAM the Third 

aged 53 years. 

The next in order and the last we shall copy the in- 
scription of, furnishes the theme for a fascinating tale of 
the terrible outrages visited upon the colonists by a foe 
if anything more rapacious than the Indians:— 

This stone was given by his 

Excellency, FRANCIS NICCHOLSON, ESQ., 

Leiu.et'nt and Governour 

Generall of Virginia in memory of 

PETER HEYMAN, ESQ., Grandson 

to SR PETER HEYMAN, of Summerfield 

in ye county of Kent. He was ye 

Collector of ye custom in ye 

Lower district of James River and 

went voluntary on Board ye King's 

Shipp Shoreham in purfuit of a 

pyrate who greatly infested this 

Coast after he had behaved himself 

seven hours with undaunted courage 

was killed with a small shott ye 20th 

day of A prill 1709 



in ye engagement as he stood next ye 
Governour upon ye Quarter Deck 
and was here honourably interred 
by his order. 

AdmirafNevilFs tomb has armorial bearings, viz: a 
chevron, three demi-lions rampant; crest: a demi-lion 
rampant, holding a sword erect, issuing from a ducal 
coronet. The stone is too badly worn and broken to 
trace a motto or t'he tinctures, which, however, are very 
seldom seen on tombs. 

The fourth stone, which has no historic value, is in 
memory of Thomas Curie, Gent., who died in 1700. 

These four stones are cemented together and pre- 
served as the last relirs of a populous citv of the dead 
and to mark the site of the first colonial church of Hamp- 
ton. The half-acre of tangled underbrush abuts on a 
suburb west of Hamnton known as Lincoln Park, and is 
reached bv convevance, or bv walking. 

The Fjpst fort at Old point Comfort. 

Old Point Comfort was at once seen to be the 
place for a great military stronghold by the colonists, all 
of whom were keenly alive to the dangers besetting them 
from the ocean marauders of that day. It was not until 
1630, however, that active measures were taken toward 
accomplishing this much to be desired work. The As- 
sembly which was convened in the winter of that year, 
in March, passed the following: 

•'Mait of ffortifications was aa"ain^ taken into consideration, and Capt. 
Samuel Mathewes was content to undertake the raysing of a ffort at Poynt 
Comfort: whereupon Capt. Robert Ffelgate, Capt. Thomas Pur f urv, Cant. 
Thomas Graies, Capt. John Utey, Thomes Wllloby. Mr. Tho. Heyrick and 
Leu't. Wm. Perry, bv full consent of the whole Assembly were chosen to 
view the place, conclude what manner of fforte shall bee erected, and to 
compounde and agree with the said Capt. Mathews for the building raysing 
am? finishing the same." &c— Howe's History of Virginia, p. 252. 



Captain Samuel Mathews was evidenty of the most 

aggressive spirits when prompt action wa> required 

In the rebellion against Harvey in 1635 it was this stout 

old captain, known everywhere as "one who lived 
bravely, kept a good house, and was a true lover of Vir- 
ginia," that threw his arms around Harvey and held 
him until his corn-patriots, recovering from fear at his 
daring, came to his assistance and made the arrest of the 
tyranical old governor complete. 

Captain Matthew's plantation adjoined Martin's 
Hundreds and extended eastward along the shore of the 
James, its eastern boundary said have included Newport 
Point, or as Captain John Smith, in a quaint burst of 
erudition, gives it the French equivalent of Newport 
Ness, in turn corrupted by the colonists to jNewport's 
News. 

An old map in the possession of a friend of the 
writer places the first fort at Old Point some distance 
north of Fortress Monrce. Why this location was se- 
lected the author has searched in vain for a reason as it 
seemed to defeat the object in view — tbe defence of the 
channel. 

The Seven Tides. 
Middle Ground lighthouse stands at a place in 
Hampton Roads frequently the scene of a marine phe- 
nomena. In the negro oystermens' parlance it is "de 
place ob de seben tides." It seems that just at this 
spot the incoming tide, bringing the greenish-blue wa- 
ter of the ocean, meets the tide'ebbing from six rivers 
emptying into Hampton Roads. Passengers to Nor- 
folk have frequently observed a well defined triangle 



f9 

of a neutral tint, bordered deeplv on each of the con- 
verging lines by ripples o L ' foam, and then shading off 
into the dark red of James River, the earthy blackness 
of Elizabeth River, and ocean blue, respectively. It is 
a beautiful spectacle and fills one with awe in be hold- 
ing another wonderful w^rk of nature. 

This phenomena was noticed bv the colonists at a 
very early date. An old chronicle, relating the visit of 
Captain John Smith to Kecoughtan, says that the meet" 
ing between the doughty captain and the braves took 
place at the spot we have decribed,— -"where the tydes 
meet and ye grate fishes feede." 

An Ancient Causeway; 

In a dense piece of woods, about three miles north 
of Newport News, on the borders' of a morass, are the 
remains of an old causewav excavated regularly for 
fifty yards or more. When the writer visited it last 
(1890) some of the logs used as piling could still be 
seen. Whether this work was colonial or its intended 
use for that period, it is impossible to say. 

KlSKIACK. 

When Captains John Smith and Christopher New- 
port sailed around to Werowocomoco on their cere- 
monial visit -to Powhatan in 1608, they noticed on the 
south side of York, or Kiskiack, River a small tribe of 
Indians known by the latter name. The seat of this 
tribe. was aboutfour miles above where Yorktown now 
stands, and the Indians resident there must have been 
the guardians of the graves of their, brethren past and 
gone. From the earliest period to the present time 
this place has been noted for the great number of In- 
dian relics found there. An attempt has been made to 
preserve the name of this lonely tribe in the euphonious 
one of ''Cheesecake," -'under which homely desig- 
nation a church in the same vicinity flourished in ante 
bellum days. 




The Reservoir and Site of Battle of Lee's Mill. 

[Also a Part of Martin's Hundred. 






IT IS WORTHY TO FOLLOW 

the manner in which a dominion 
grew out of the feeble colony that 
landed at Jamestown. Looking far 
back across the centuries it seems 
that the movement of affairs politi- 
cal was as rapid as was then need- 
ful; considering the tedious means of communication, 
and the exposed condition of the colonies, it must indeed 
have been slow. 

This volume will inevitably link the remote past to 
the throbbing present. Our paths have laid among the 
misty places of antiquity, and to rush into the hurrying 
bustle that" industrialism is fast bringing into the sec- 
tion with which we deal, would apparently be a rude 
transition. This must nevertheless happen as we take 
each county in regular order and give its history, location, 
and other incidents of interest to the visitor. 

ELIZABETH CITY COUNTY. 
Population, Census 1900, 19,460; Hampton, 2764. 
We will come in from the sea. Elizabeth C'ty was 
one of the eight original shires into which Virginia was 




Battle Between the King's Ship, Shoreham and 

theTirate— See Page 26. 

(Drawn by E. I. Beale. ) 




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D- 


1—1 


T3 


H 


O 


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<tf 


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3i- 

divided in 1634. Its form is nearly a square of eighteen 
miles The land is exceedingly fertile, especially near 
Back River, whereat is remarkably so. Only about one 
third of the tillable land is in cultivation, and idle land is 
in the preponderance. 

Hampton is the chief town and county seat, and en- 
joys the distinction of being the place in which the first 
free school in America, endowed by Benjamin Syms 
in 1634-38, was established. In 1659. Thomas Eaton, 
another wealthy man of Back River, set aside a large 
property for the maintenance of a free school. Each of 
these venerable institutions of learning were in existence 
long before the establishment of William and Mary Col- 
lege. In 1805, by act °f the Assembly of Virginia, these 
schools were united, and from that date have borne the 
name of Syms-Eaton Academy. It occupies a large 
building in the eastern part of Hampton, just north of 
Queen street. 

Old St. John's church, the third oldest church in 
Virginia, is at once the most attractive object to those 
of antiquarian proclivities. It presents a delightful Old 
World appearance, built of brick in the English bond 
and surrounded by venerable willows. 

During the first colonial period the church of 
Elizabeth City was located in the most convenient place 
for the outlying plantations, and the districts were es 
sentially rural. As the larger towns sprang up and the 
greater number of parishioners became resident there, 
the churches were removed to the towns and more 
substantial buildings erected. Furthermore the grow 
ing uneasiness incident to the political changes and the 
treachery of the Indians made it necessary for valua- 
ble property, such as churches indeed were in those 
days in their ecclesio-political capacity, and besides 



3 2 

the constant fear that the graves of their loved ones 
would be desecrated by an uprising of the Indians, was 
also an important factor in bringing the churches with- 
in the protection of the town garrison. Thus St, John's 
church in the town of Hampton took the place of the 
one at Pembroke Farm in the same manner in which 
the great church in Williamsburg (Bruton Parish) took 
the place of several minor ones in the vicinity. 

Hampton is the oldest town in continual existence 
in English North America, being settled from James- 
town in 1610. It- has passed through three terrible 
wars, being twice reduced to ashes. Th is fact accounts 
for the absence of colonial landmarks. 

It is one of the centers of the oyster industry of 
Tidewater Virginia, deriving considerable of its revenue 
fibm this source. The National Home for disabled 
veteran soldiers and sailors, and the Normal School for 
Indian and negro youth, furnishes also a large fund for 
the maintenance of local industries. 

Hampton is slowly awakening to the value of her 
own resources and the vast opportunities that capital 
.will open within her doors. West Queen Street is 
like the trunk of a great tree, for from it two roads 
branch, one penetrating, with its many ramifications, 
into the river plantations of Warwick county; the other 
branch going up in to the great interesting county of 
York, our next in order for description, 

YORK COUNTY. 
POPULATION, CENSUS 1900, 7482; YORKTOWN, 1 5 1 . 

York was one of eight original counties into which 
Virginia was divided in 1634. Chesapeake Bay bounds 
it on the east, and York River on the northeast. It is 
33 miles long, with a mean width of 6 miles. The por- 
tion bordering on Chesapeake Bay is noted for the great 
fertility of its soil, equaling in this regard, where mod 



33- 

ern methods of agriculture have been adopted, the re- 
nowned trucking belt of Norfolk. On the plateau, ex- 
tending from a few miles above Yorktown to the north- 
ern limits, of the county, while the soil is quite fertile 
it does not possess the rich blackness of the former de- 
scribed district, and as the country becomes more 
broken the -shading off into the poorer elements be- 
comes more apparent. 

There is a large quantity of idle land in York 
county. The proportion is larger than in Elizabeth 
City. Lack of transportion and the time worn system 
of farming out a few acres to improvident negro tenants 
with their inevitable *<teawn crap," is depriving the 
rapidly growing cities in itTTe vTclni ty of moderately 
priced farm produce, and the State of a princely rev- 
enue. 

Yorktown, the seat of justice is on York River, n 
miles from its mouth, 33 from Norfolk and 70 from Rich- 
mond. This is the only town of any consequence in the 
county and with the exception of two or three settle- 
ments the population is very widely scattered. 

There is no section in Virginia as rich in colonial 
history as York county. To transcribe every incident 
closely associated with the bulding of the nation, would 
tax the limits of a far more pretentious volums than this. 
Yorktown is the Mecca of every tourist studying the co- 
lonial peried, and there is an irresistible charm about its 
war battered appearance that attracts, during the ex- 
cursion season, great throngs of visitors. 

Within the memory of many now living Yorktown 
has been known to be a thriving port of entry and call- 
in its palmy days a close rival to Baltimore and Charles' 
ton. Then it was that the spacious mouth of York River 



34 

was filled with shipping from all quarters of the glot e^ 
and the streets of Yorktown thronged with factors, supei 3 
cargos and sailors. Nearly every family was the proud 
possessor of a parrot or monkey, and now and then a fine 
India shawl or costly silk found its way, sub rosa, to the 
shoulders of a fair daughter of the Old Dominion. 

In 1691 the colonial gentlemen, some of them doubt- 
less progenitors of the '"successful promoters of to-day, 
conceived the idea of building and opening for enterprise 
a town for York. Fifty acres of land were secured and 
laid out into town lots, Governor Francis Nicholson be- 
ing one of the largest purchasers. Ever alive to the 
cause of popular education Governor Nicholson supple- 
mented his great work in behalf of the establishment of 
William & Mary College, by conveying in 1695 his 
Yorktown lots to aid the institution of a free school. We 
find him again, the year following, on record in this wise- 

"York county /October ye 26th, t6q6. 1 promise to give five pounds 
sterling toward building the cott. house at Yorke Towne, and twenty pounds 
sterl'g if within two years they build a brick church att the same towne. As 
witness my hand ye day and year above written. 

FFRA. NICHOLSON. 

"Stiphen ffoward, 

"Robt. Bill; November ye 24th: 1696. 

"The above writing p'ented in cott. and according to order is commit 
ted to Record. WILLIAM SEDGWICK, cl, cur." 

The church now standing at Yorktown is not the 
first colonial church. That church was destroyed by 
fire in 1814, and the marl-stone church now standing was 
built directly after, and upon the same foundation, the 
heat generated by the burning of the former building be- 
ing so great that the marl was in a measure calcined 
and made more durable. 

The court records at Yorktown are capable ot shed- 
ing much light upon the early history of the colonies, j 



35- 

some of them dating as far back as 1636. Not only in 
matters judicial do these ancient writings throw a great 
brilliancy, but in the transient happenings in the New 
World they emit a quaint] side-light, The fol'owing is a 
bill of expenses for a jollification indulged in upon the 
return of Charles I I. to the throne of England. This 
gala day for York was on September 2D, 1660, and 
the bill is made in the complex form of tobacco cur- 
rency: 

Att the proclaiming of his sacred Maisty; 
To ye Ho'ble Govn'r p a barrel powd'r, 1 i2lb .00996 
To Capt, ffox six cases of drams . . . . . ,00900 
To Capt. ffox for his great gunnes . . . ,00500 

To Mr, Philip Malory 00500 

To ye trumpeters . . . , . . . ... .00800 

To Mr. Hansford 176 Gallons of Syd'r at 15 
& 35 gall at 20, caske 264 . . . . . .03604 

In recent years cider would hardly have had the 

zest. At the present writing, be it said to her credit* 
Yorktown is a "dry" town. 

An old chronicle has it that a large body of Indians 
from the northwest, after hearing of the strange 
neighbors acquired by the James River tribes, made a 
rapid journey to the York River to see the great war- 
riors and their flying canoes (the colonists and their 
ships.) F01 several days the south shore of the York 
was "encompassed by a grate multitude of salvage?," 
and the colonists were apprehensive for the life of the 
whole commonwealth. But Fortune, after presenting 
the spectre of extermination, tipped the ballance again 
for the white settlers. On the approach of the Indians 
to Tendale's (Gloucester) Point, the little 'outpost 



3& 

seated there withdrew across the river to Kiskiack to 
the greater fort. As it happened, while the savages 
were preparing to cross after them, it wasfcund that 
a still more powerful tribe, at war with the f rs. com- 
ers, had camped upon their trail and a rapid retrograde 
movement, by the left flank, was in order for the 
sightseers, and in passing close to Werowomocomo some 
of the Powhatan's braves were drawn into the melee, 
and a few valuable trophes won by them. 

The prowling Susquehannocks, considerably dis- 
persed by the war of the Five Nations, often came in 
marauding bands to threaten York, and it was not until 
the close of the seventeenth century that the colonists 
felt comparatively free from this danger. 

Another tradition, -not *at all .disproved, is to the 
effect that Nathaniel Bacon's body, to prevent it from 
falling into the hands of the ghoulish hirelings of Sir 
William Berkeley, was committed to the depths of 
York River in front of the magnificent monument mark- 
ing the successful termination of a rebellion begun just 
one hundred years after the strenuous endeavors of the 
Virginia patriot of 1676. 

Bacon, when he first came to Virginia, made his 
home at King's Creek in York county, equi-distant from 
Yorktown and Williamsburg six miles. 

Big Bethel, the first battle ground of the Civil War, 
is on the line of Elizabeth City and York counties, and 
is distant from Yorktown eighteen miles, and from 
Hampton eight. The history of Bethel church is such a^ 
to throw a great deal of light upon the rise of the power- 
ful Baptist church in Virginia. The writer has seen an 
old register of Big Bethel which goes back to the dawn 
of the nineteenth century. Sandwiched between verbose 



3 7- 

allusions to the great object of the church's teaching and 
practice were delightful bits of contemporary and profane 
history in the early days of the Republic. 

JAMES CITY COUNTY. 
Population, Census 1900, 3688; Williamsburg 2144 

James City was also one of the original counties in- 
to which Virginia was divided in 1634. Its length is 23 
miles, mean breadth 8 miles. The country is becoming 
more rolling, and is continuously traversed by deep ra- 
vines. What has been said of the soil in the preceding 
section applies largely here, although there is consider- 
able land on the ridge that is unproductive. 

When one enters the hallowed precincts of James 
City he seems to come to a land where "wait" forever 
is the watchword. It seems here that Father Time in 
his usual hurried gait falters and lingers here where he 
found so much to do. It matters little if the frantic iron 
horse, with shriek and rumble, tears his way up and 
down his narrow path, or that an infant factory, with its 
feeble wail, tries its voice for the stronger tones of in- 
dustrialism — both are in a little world of their own, and 
still the whispered word "wait" echoes among the pines 
and over the hills of this land of the long ago. 

It is but seven miles from Jamestown to Williams- 
burg. But during the centuries the passage along this 
highway has been triumphant. Washington rode along 
it a-courting, or trudged sturdily over the hills that flank 
it w^h his Gunter's chain and Jacob staff. And Jeffer- 
son, with problems deep, traversed this way that has 
brought so much glory and so much power. 

Three-quarters of a mile from Williamsburg on the 
road to Jamestown is an old water-mill set picturesquely 
between two great hills. It is rarely, if ever, mentioned 



38_ 

in history, nevertheless for two hundred years humble 
old mill stones have performed their noble task of grind- 
ing corn for the people. It is mentioned here now be- 
cause it is a dear old place in antiquity, and from the 
fact also that this spot is one of the very best to stndy 
the geology of the Peninsula, each phase distinctive of 
its formation, hereinbefore treated, is strongly marked. 

Jamestown, the objective point for the visitor to 
these parts, is almost a memory. With the exception 
of the old church tower there is little to point the visi- 
tor to the early days of the colony. 

Because the old church tower stands at the oldest 
spot in Virginia it is generally supposed that the ol.d 
tower is a part of the first structure of its kind. It is in- 
deed very doubtful if the church building to which the 
lone tower belonged antedated that of the eld church 
near Smithfield, and there are ruins of a church three 
miles above Williamsburg that is very much older. 

The first church built at Jamesiown, directly after 
its settlement, was a very small affair and, according 
to the authority of the Westover MS cost no more than 
£$o. The following extract from the wc rks of Captain 
John Smith will prove of interest: 

'•And so we returned all well to lames towne, where this new supp'y 
being- lodged with the rest, accidentally fired their quarters, and so the towne 
which being but thatched with reeds the fire was so fierce as it burnt their 
pallisado's, (although eight or ten yards distant.) with their armes, bedding, 
apparrell, and much priuate prouision. Good Master 'Hunt, our preacher 1 
lost all his liberary. and all he had but the cloathes on his backe: yet none 
neuer heard him repine at his losse. This happened in the winter, in that ex- 
treame frost, 1607",— Smith, book 3. (Richmond edition,) p. 168. 

"The spring approaching and the ship departing, Mr. Scrivener and 
Captaine Smith divided betwixt them the rebuilding lames towne; the re- 
pairing our palisadoas; the cutting downe trees; preparing our fields: plant* 
ing our corne, and to rebuild cur church, and to recover our storehxuse."- 
p. T70. 



39. 



Continuing SmitrTsays: "All men busie at their 
severall labors, Master Nelson arrived with his lost 
Phoenix." The Phoenix having arrived [Spark's Life 
of Smith] in 1608, this disposes of the first church. 

Smith says further on, opening his chapter where 
the government devolved upon Captain Argall: 

"In March they set saile; 1617, [from England,] and in May he [Argall 
arrived at lames towne, where he was kindly entertained^ by Captaine 
Ye'arley and his companie in a martiall order, whose right hand file was led 
by an Indian. In lames towne he found but five or six houses, the church 
downe, the pallizado's broken, the bridge in pieces, the well of fresh water 
spoiled, the storehouse vsed for a church; the [market place and streets, and 
all other spare olaces planted with tobacco; the aaluages as frequent in their 
houses as themselues, whereby they become expert fin [our armes, and had 
a great many in their custodie and possessioo; the colony dispersing al 
about, planting- tobacco. 

Thus it will be seen that at 1617 two churches had 
been built and destroyed. Now the language of Smith 
iu both of these instances is such as not to impress one 
with the idea that the buildings erected under so much 
uncertainty and trouble could have been very costly or 
of such magnitude as the one that would have so im- 
posing a tower as is now standing at Jamestown 

Miss Foster, (1) on the genesis of Jamestown, in 
troduces evidence to show that a third church, also 
a frail building, was ready for occupancy in 1619, and 
this writer, with confidence, would place the time of 
the construction of the ruined tower as late as 1639-44. 

We find that it was just about this time(some two 
or three years after the division of the counties in 1634) 
that the parishes of Horlop and Middle Plantations bel 
came united under the name of Middleton. During this 
civic and ecclesiastical adjustment it is fair to assume 
the building'of a more durable church at : Jamestown was 
begun in a more thorough manner than that which 
characterised the former smaller buildings. 



1 Colonial Capitals of the;Dominion of Virginia. 



4^ 

Twenty years ago Jamestown was forlorn and for- 
saken, left desolate, literally at the mercy of time and 
tide. I have a pen and ink drawing of the old maga- 
zine, made at that time. The arches of brick masonry 
that had been over the openings were intact, although 
one of them was lying half inverted in the constant 
wash of the waves. Since the preservation of the 
sites of the old colonial buildings much historical data 
has been made permanent, but during the time the is- 
land was left forsaken James River, with its annual 
freshets, was fast making away with the things belong 
ing to the babyhood of the Republic. 

Green Spring is distant from Jamestown four 
miles, from Williamsburg eight. The age of this co- 
lonial homestead is well attested by the presence of a 
great tree that has grownup amid the ruins of the 
house that once sheltered Sir William Berkeley. 

We have long associated the idea with the colonists 
that in the many trials that confronted them very little 
time was offered them for amusement. While apparently 
it is a diversion from our rambles among historic places it 
is doubtless within our province to pause and look into a 
delightful byway of literature. 

George Sandys, who was acting as treasurer of the 
company in Virginia, subordinate to his brother, Sir Ed- 
win Sandys, treasurer in England, while residing on the 
Peninsula, presumably in James City county, found 
time amid the exciting scenes of the period to complete 
a translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. The fol- 
lowing extract has more than ''local color':" 

In firm content 
And harmless ease their happy days were spent; 
The yet-free earth did of her own accord 



_____ 4_i 

(Untorn with ploughs) all sort of fruit afford. 
Content with Nature's unenforced food, 
•. They gather wildings, strawberries of the wood, 
Sour cornels what upon the brambles grow, 
And acorns which Jove's spreading oaks bestow; 
'Twas always Spring; warm Zephyrus sweetly blew 
On smiling flowers which, without setting grew. 
Forthwith the earth corn unmanured bears, 
And every year renews her golden ears; 
With milk and honey were the- rivers fill'd 
And yellow honey from green elms distill'd. 

In his dedication of his translation of the Metamor" 
phoses Sandys said that his work was "limned by 
that imperfect light that was snatched from the. hours of 
night and repose; and was produced among wars and tu- 
mults." Thus we come back to the vicissitudes of the 
colonists. 

We might add, while thus digressing, that Shak- 
peare has quoted John Smith. The Captain, en- 
thusiastic in regard to Pocahontas calls her "the nonpa_ 
riel." In The Tempest, written in 1610, in Act J 1 1 
Scene 1 1, Caliban is made to say: 

"... The beauty of his daughter. He himself calls her a non- 
pariel." 

Middle Plantations, subsequently Williamsburg, 
was laid out in 1632 and a parish church erected bear- 
ing the same name. This forerunner of settlements in 
colonial time, is about the only thing we know of the 
origin of the first little town. In 1677 the vestry of 
Middleton Parish decided not to repair the church near 
Green Spring and the one on King's Cieek, (Ulti- 
maria,) but to build a great church at Middle Planta- 
tions of ample size to accomodate the former three con- 
gregations, and to have for its name Bruton Parish, as 
a compliment to the family of Ludwell, which came 



42 . 

from Bruton, county of Somerset, England. The con- 
sideration in the contract to build the church reads as 
follows: 

"For .£150, and sixty pounds of good, sound, mer- 
chantable, sweet scented tobacco, to be levy of each 
tytheable in the parish for three years together," 

Bishop Meade (1) states that on a mutilated stone 
at King's Creek, could be deciphered the words: 

'The Rev. Thomas Hampton, rector of this parish 
in 1647." 

Around the church soon clustered the smithy and 
tavern and the scattering houses of the church officers. 
Gradually the settlement was added to until in 1693 it 
came forth as the metropolis of Virginia. 

Williamsburg was not the place originally selected as 
the location of William & Mary College. The charter 
expressly stipulates that the College should be "estab- 
lished on the south side of York river, on the 

land of the late Colonel Townsend, near the 

port appointed for the county of York." And, although 
Governor Francis Nicholson was largely instrumental in 
securing the charter of William & Mary, there is nothing 
on record to show that he wa- particularly in favor of fa 
change to Williamsburg, more especially, as elsewhere 
noted in these pages, he was promoting Yorktown, and 
the location of the College near the new port was cer- 
tainly well in keeping with the desires of so progresivea 
man. The charter, (2) however, states that if by 
reason "of unwholsomeness, or for any other cause, 
the same shall not he approved of, then wheresoever 
else the General Assembly . . . may choose within 
the boundary of the colony of Virginia. 



1 Meade's Old Churches, p. 200. 

2 Histcrv of William and Mary College, (edttion 1874^ p 4-5 



Erf* 




COLONIAL CAPITOL OF THE FIRST PERIOD IN WILLIAMSBURG. 
DEVELOPED FROM HUGH JONES' DESCRIPTION BY THE AUTHOR. 



_____ 43 

Williamsburg became the capital of the Dominion 
of Virginia in 1698. ''When the state-house and prison- 
were burnt down, [at Jamestown] Governor Nicholson 
removed the residence of the governor, with the meet- 
ings of the general courts and general assemblies, to 
Middle Plantation, seven miles from James town, in a 
healthier and more convenient place, and freer from the 
annoyance of moschetoes" Such are the words of Rev. 
Hugh Jones in his "Present State of Virginia," pub- 
lished in 1724, an authoritative work on the colony of 
Virginia in the beginning of the eighteenth century. 

It is from this rare little pamphlet [12 mo, 150 pp.] 
we derive the information that the town of Williamsburg 
was laid out in the form of a W and M,— a form, by 
reason of its manifest inconvenience, not long adhered to. 
From the same source, in a most minute description, we 
obtain the specifications from which I have developed the 
front elevation of the first colonial capitol at Williams- 
burg. The following brief descriptien by Mr. Jones, of 
the immediate environs of the capitol, may be of interest 
here: 

"The building is in the form <of an H, nearly; the 
secretary's office and the general court taking up one 
side below stairs; the middle being a- handsome portico, 
leading to the clerk of the assembly's office, and the 
House of Burgesses on the other side; which last is not 
unlike the House ofCommons. In each wing is a good 
staircase one leading to the council-chamber. . . Over 
the portico is a large chamber, where conferences are 

held At one end of this is a lobby, and near it 

the clerk of the council's office; and at the other end are 
several chambers for the committees of claims, priveleges 
and elections ; and over all these are several good offices 



44- 

for the receiver-general for the auditor and treasurer, &cT, 
and upon the middle is raised a lofty cupola with a large 
clock. The whole is encompassed with a good wall, and 
near it is a strong sweet prison, for criminals, and on the 
other side of the open court another for debtors. . . " 

This magnificent building was destroyed by fire in 
1746, and directly after a less pretentious building, but 
one made famous by Patrick Henry's daring speech, was 
built on the some foundation and by a similar general 
plan. This second building was burned in 1832. 

Facing Palace Green is a small house in which there 
is a window glass bearing the following scratched with a 
diamond: 

T. B. 
1796 (9 ?) Nov. 23 O fatal day. 

The third figure of the year is not clearly made; it 
would pass as either a 4 or 9. If the former it jjwould 
correspond with the date of the destruction of the Capi- 
tol, certainly a fateful day for the people of Williamsburg, 
and inasmuch as the little building is one of the group 
which as late as q 1840 survived the appurtenances of 
Lord Dunmore's palace, no doubt the glass, at least, was 
preserved as a mo mento of a most eventful day in the 
history of the town. 

After the second capitol was destroyed a building 
was erected on the site and used as a female academy 
Directly after the Civil War this building was abandoned' 
remaining in ruins until 1887, when it was sold to a p:'o- 
neer citizen of Newport News who employed, doubtless, 
some of the bricks which formed the walls having ears to 
the treasonable speech of the great Apostle of Liberty, 
to erect in part the first brick residence in Newport 
News. And somewhere within the walls of a modern 



45- 

— — ^^ — — ^— «^—^^.^— «^»» 

business block, on the southeastern corner of Washing- 
ton Avenue and Thirtieth street, are hidden some of the 
bricks of the House of Burgesses. Such is ancient glory, 
and so does destiny link the past to the living present 
on the Peninsula. 

There stood at the entrance of the Capitol a beau- 
tiful marble statue of Lord Botetourt, one of the most 
acceptable among the last of the colonial governors 
coming to the Dominion of Virginia. Because of his 
devotion to literature and the arts, and also from the 
fact that his remains are interred in the College chapel, 
in 1797 his statue was removed from the Capitol and 
placed on the College campus. 

We find on May 12, 1779, an act was passed to re 
move the seat of government to Richmond. The old 
House of Burgesses becoming vacant and falling into 
ill repair was doubtless another excellent reason for re- 
moving the statue to its present location. 

The following brief item, taken from the Virginia 
Gazette in one of its issues of October, 1768, announc- 
ing the arrival of the distinguished governor above re- 
ferred to, tells an interesting story of the leisuurly man- 
ner of travel of those days: 

Last Tuesday evening arriued in Hampton Roads, in eight weeks from 
Portsmouth, the Rippon, man-of-war, of 60 guns, Samuel Thompson, Esq, 
commander, having on board his Excellency, the Right Hon. Norbornk 
Baron de Botetourt, his majesty's Lieut, and Gov.-General of this Colon} 
and Dominion. Next morning his Excellency landed at Little England, (i", 
and was saluted with a discharge of the cannon there. After tarrytng a few 
hours and taking a repast, his Excellency set out about noon for this city 
wheie he arrived about sunset. 

In a succeeding issue of the same paper a more de- 
tailed description of the inaugural ceremonies was pub- 
lished, as well as an ode to the new governor. In 
these democratic times the ode appears very extrav- 

1 A suburb of Hampton 



agant, and in view of the rising storm of revolution, 
insincere. 

A piece of eighteenth century sculpture, rivalling 
in beauty and execution the statue "of. Lord Botetourt, 
is that of the tomb of Edward Nott, Governor in 1705, 
which is in Brutonchurch yard a few rods to the reft of 
the tower. 

Williamsburg de:erves the distinction of being the 
terminus of one of the first inter-colonial postal routes 
Soon after the arrival of Governor Spottiswood, whose 
reception was very cordial, by reason of the fact that 
he brought a writ confirming the contention of the col- 
onists that they too, as Englishmen, were entitled to 
the right of habeas corpus, an act was passed in Par- 
liament extending the postal system into Virginia. But 
the introduction of stamps and the use of them upon 
letters caused a great outcry. The colonists could see 
no other reason for the presence of. a postage stamp 
except as a slick way of levying a tax upon correspon- 
dence. For a time the Dominion of Virginia was in an 
uproar, the same being augmented by the House of 
Burgesses trying its hand at counter legislation, and 
after declaring that Parliament could levy no tax in 
Virginia without the consent of the local representa- 
tives, proceeded to make the extension of the postal sys- 
tem of no effect by the imposition of conditions diffi- 
cult of interpretation and abrogatory in their general 
character. 

Nevertheless a letter post was established be- 
tween Willamsburg and Philadelphia, radiating to the 
Maryland colonies, the time stipulated for the passage 
of a letter from the capitol of Virginia to Philadelphia 
being eight days! 



^^ 47 

An ancient map in the library of William & Mary 
College made in 1780 speaks of a "madhouse" in Wil- 
liamsburg, and many of the pre-Revolutionary issues of 
the Virginia Gazette make mention of the proposed lo- 
cation of an asylum there. In 1769 an act passed the 
House of Burgesses authorizing the establishment of the 
asylum, and known by that name until recent years 
when the official title was changed from Eastern State 
Asylum to that of the Eastern State Hospital for the In- 
sane. 

Shortly after the numerous passages of arms be- 
tween the small bodies of Federal and Confederate troops 
operating on the Peninsula, after the heavier scenes in 
the drama of war had been shifted to the northern bor- 
der, following the futile attempt of McClellan to reach 
Richmond by the Peninsula route, a spirited correspond- 
ence ensued between General Dix, commanding at For- 
tress Monroe, and General Henry A. Wise, whose duty 
it was to protect the Peninsula side of Richmond, and 
who made numerous raids into the vicinity of Williams- 
burg. 

The points at issue related to the manner in which 
the belligerents should observe the position and pur- 
poses of the asylum. General Wise contended that i^ 
being an institution of humanitarian object it should b e 
under the protection of the Confederate government and 
a resident, con-combatant guard, under the control 
of the State should be quartered there. General Di x 
alleged that the guard had committed numerous depre- 
dations against the Federal authority, whose forces were 
occupying the territory, and that this privelege of a local 
military guard of the State could not be granted; that an 
attempt to establish such a guard would result in its 
capture and treatment as prisoners of war, those resist- 
ing would be shot; and that the asylum should, from that 



48 . 

date, be under the military and medical control of the 
United States Army. 

In concluding his letter in reply, and also the very 
unsatisfactory correspondence, General Wise exclaims, 
in language characteristic of himself and the time : 

"I would rather fight you than write you!" 

A Richmond paper, published during the war, in my 
possession, contains the full text of the correpondence. 

The deep well-like cellar in the rear of the Matty 
school, in very recent years having awarded to it the ro- 
mantic name of "Dunmore's Cave/' was built by Gov- 
ernor Spottiswood and served his palace in the humble 
capacity of ice house and storage vault. Nevertheless 
tradition's mystic fingers have been busy with it, and it 
is not unlikely that Lord Dunmore may have found it a 
convenient place of refuge during some of the strenuous 
days he v/as dodging the determined little band of pa- 
triots under Patrick Henry. 

CHARLES CITY COUNTY. 

Population, Census 1900, 5,040. 

Charles City was one of the eight original counties 
divided in 1634. It then extended on both sides of the 
James, but later was confined entirely to its northern 
shore. It is about nine miles wide and twenty long and 
ts surface is very rolling, some of the elevated points, 
especialy the river bluffs, around which the James winds 
picturesquely, reaching seventy feet or more. The Pe- 
ninsula widens very perceptibly through Charles City 
county and that of New Kent, which bounds it on the 
north, and the land is considerably more fertile and mel- 
low where the surface is not so bold in relief. 

Charles City, while rich in antiquity, possesses 
but few colonial landmarks, and we will not, therefore, 
linger as lone within its borders. 



4 9- _ 

We find the princely home of the distinguished 
statesman and scholar, to whose researches into Vir- 
ginia's antiquity we have had occasion to refer in this 
volume, Col. William Byrd, known as Westover is in 
Charles City county, 30 miles from Richmond and / 
from Berkeley, the magnificent home of the Harrisons, 
and birth place of William Henry Harrison, ninth pres- 
ident of the United States, — famous old Tippecanoe. 

Colonel Byrd was a contemporary of Sir Alexan- 
der Spottiswood, and like the latter ardently in love 
with all that was chivalrous and indicative of the ad- 
vance of a pure civilization. And like the former also, 
he was identified with the progress of the colony west- 
ward. His works (1) remained in manuscript until 
1841 when they were published in Petersburg under 
the title of the Westover Manuscripts. 

At Oldfield, which was a part of Colonel Byrd's 
estate, where is an extensive brick manufacturing 
plant, which, by the way, makes the most compact, 
non-absorbent brick anywhere to be found in Eastern 
Virginia, by reason of the excellent quality of the clay 
in abundance there, were held frequently the athletic 
and musical fetes of the upper plantations. 

A field day held in 1736 on St. Andrew's day well 
attests the fact that many of the North of England 
rural sports were in vogue among the colonists, and 
that the rough and ready cudgeling bouts which Dick- 
ens describes in perhaps too vivid detail, were often 
held at Oldfield. A few excerpts from the programme 
are here given: 

"That a Hat of the value of 20s be cudgelled for. 

"That a violin be played for by 20 Fiddlers. After 
the prize is won they are all to play together, 
and each a different tune, and to be treated by 
the company. 



1 History of the Dividing Line. A Journey to the Land of Eden 
Progress to the Mines, etc. 



50 

That a handsome entertainment be provided for 
the subscribers and their wives; and such of 
them as are not so happy as to have wives to 
treat any other lady. 

'That a Quire of ballads to be sung for by a num- 
ber of Songsters, all of them to have liquor suf- 
ficient to clear their Wind Pipes. 

"That a pair of handsome silk Stockings, of one 
Pistole [about four dollars — Ed.] value be given 
to the handsomest young country maiden that 
appears in the Field. With many other Whim- 
sical and Comical Diversions too numerous to 
mention." 

Charles City county became the theatre of stir- 
ring events at the time Nathaniel Bacon became the 
daring champion of the people in 1676. This was due 
to two causes : first Bacon's residence, while in Hen- 
rico county, his local influence extended far down the 
Peninsula long before any agressive action was taken. 
We can see something of Bacon's hand in the "Charles 
City County Grievances," which the people met in 
indignant conclave at Oldfield early in 1676 and form- 
ulated. Second: The limits of the county, as we have 
seen, extended across the James and consequently was 
a part of the frontier. 

It was from one of Colonel Byrd's priceless manu- 
scripts that the Virginia Gazette published, incident to 
the notab'e resolutions passed by the House of Bur- 
gesses on May 15, 1776, a stirring article telling of Ba- 
con's suffering and daring and calling upon all Virgin- 
ians, on the centennial of his noble achievments, 
to emuluate him in passing upon the momentous ques* 
iLn then before the American people. 



SJ_ 

NEW KENT COUNTY. 
Population, Census 1900, 4,865. 

New Kent was formed in 1654 from York. The 
boundaries were defined as follows: 

"It is ordered that the upper part of York county be 
a distinct county to be called New Kent, from the west 
side of Scimmino Creek to the heads of the Pamunkey 
and Mattoponie river, and down to the head of the west 
side of Poropotank creek." 

The Pamunkey runs on its northern, and the Chick- 
ahominy on its southern, and to each of these streams 
the respective portions of the county incline. New 
Kent county is about 9 miles wide and 26 miles long, 
and the land well watered by the streams above spoken 
of is very fertile, excelling in the production of melons 
and small fruits and berries, to which the soil is particu- 
larly adapted. 

On the banks of the Pamunkey, about 25 miles from 
Richmond, is an old colonial mansion, known throughout 
the countryside as the White House. The location of 
this mansion was at a point of the utmost stratgetic ad- 
vantage to the Union army in the last years of the 
Civil War, and the fine old colonial homestead was sur- 
rounded by the stern implements of war after its century 
of peace and gay rounds of social life in the old Domin- 
ion of Virginia. 

It was near the White House that Washington, on 
his way to Williamsburg with :'mportant communications 
after his famous trip to the Ohio, was compelled 
by reason of the warmest solicitation of Mr. Chamber- 
layne, a ne'ghbor of the lately deceased Daniel Parke 
Custis, to pass the night and incidentally to meet the 
charming widow, Martha Custis, mistress of the White 



52 . 

House, and who was for the time being a guest of Mr. 
Chamberlayne. 

The subsequent courtship and marriage of Wash- 
ington are dear to the hearts of all Americans and to3 
well known to bear repetition here. Be it said, however, 
that the time of this marriage the White House was the 
executive mansion of an immense plantation, and Wash- 
ington's courtesy, under the English law of pre-nuptial 
settlement, added to his estate one hundred thousand 
dollars. Custis, in his life of Washington (a grandson of 
the first lady of the land) is authority for§this statement. 
It it from this beautiful romance that the name of the 
"White House" was given to the Executive Mansion in 
Washington. <o 

WARWICK COUNTY. 

Population, Census 1900, 4,888. 

Warwick became one of the original counties divided 

in 1634. Of all the counties of the Peninsula it contains 

the least of colonial landmarks. Much has already been 

said, under another head, of the antiquities of Warwick 

-to which we can add but little. 

Standing in a dense wood, three miles above Morri- 
sons, is a mysterious little brick house which was most 
certainly built during the colonial period as evidenced by 
the manner of its construction, the bricks being laid in 
the English bond. The former county jail, now used 
as the home for the negro poor, at the Court House, 
is an exact counter part of this little house, and 
both present quaint pictures of the colonial day. 

When the visitor to the Peninsula is shown any 
old church or colonial building, he is always told that 
the bricks used in its construction were brought from 
England. It is high time that this moth eaten old fal- 
lacy was exploded and the ingenuity and the under- 



53- 

standing of the colonists in preparing building material 
was given proper credit. One of the greatest sources 
of dissatisfation to the patrons of the London Com- 
pany, those ot the get-rich-quick persuasion, was that 
every ship coming from Virginia was loaded with build" 
ing material instead of gold and precious stones, which 
they'believed they had every reason to expect from 
their portion of the fabulous wealth of the Indies. 

Their persistent clamoi in this regard evoked from 
Captain John Smith what he terms a Rude Answer as 
early as November, 1608, r in which he enumerates the 
already established industries of brick and glass mak- 
ing, of which of the latter he had begun to export to 
England, and begs for more carpenters and mason*- so 
the supply at hand could be worked into a better class 
of houses for the colony. 

A quotation of the price of bricks in the seven- 
teenth century lends material aid to the utmost feasi- 
bility of the manufacture of bricks in the colony. Thus 
in London bricks brought 18s, 8 1-4 d., per thousand, 
while in Virginia they soid tor 8s per thousand! For 
this statement we are indebted to Bruce's Economic 
History of Virginia, which states in another place that 
during the massacre of 1622, at some of the planta- 
tions the Indians were beaten off with brickbats. 

There are several very old and interesting grave- 
yards in Warwick county, but aside from their heraldic 
devices and ancient dates, when not so badly mutilated 
to make the deciphering on these stones impossible, 
they possess little value to the antiquarian, except he 
be also a genealogist, in which case he is apt to stum- 
ble, in most unfrequented byways, on a treasure trove, 
if such a comparison may be admitted when speaking 
of the lonely and forgotten homes of the dead. 



8 



NEWPORT 

NEWS. 



Twenty= 
Six Yeas'S. 




ON THE 17TH OF OCTOBER, 

1 88 1, the first train through from 

Richmond to Newport News awoke 

the echoes of the sleeping past on 

the historic Virginia Peninsula and 

heralded the birth of a seaport that 

should far excell anything of its 
kind ever before known in the Dominion of Virginia. 

And after dealing with the scenes which carry one 
back into the mists of three hundred years ago we call 
this country young, how strange indeed it seems that 
one should speak of twenty-six years in Newport 
News as a long time! 

On the 19th day of October, 1881, the centennial 
of the surrender of Comwallis was opened by Presi- 
dent Arthur at Yorktown. This date is approximately 
even with the opening of a road to the sea — a fulfill- 
ment of the dreams of Spottiswood, Byrd and Wash- 
ington—one looking into the vista of the past, [the 
other opening the gate of the future. 

Ever since the Civil War the talk of building a 
railroad from Richmond to Newport News was like 
preaching the gospel of promise to the isolated people 



55 

of the Peninsula, and the bringing forth of the port of 
Newport News was to them commercial regeneration. 

In 1 88 1 the site of this city had risen little above 
the dignity of a camp. Of the houses remaining of ante 
bellum days there were but three remaining intact — one 
of which now stands just beyond Thirty-fourth street, a 
large, roughly built structure at the foot of Eighteenth 
street, used as a general store building, and the old Par- 
rish House at the foot of Ivy Avenue, which of the three 
remains unaltered. Scattered about were the rude shan- 
ties of the railroad camps, and near the store spoken of 
a hastily constructed wharf where the material for the 
railroad was landed. Where the Casino now stands were 
the ruins of the old Winburne House, and in the river, 
half-way between the wharf and^Point Breeze, were por- 
tions of the wrecks of the Congress and Cumberland de- 
stroyed by the Merrimac, March 8th, 1862 — and over all 
an air of expectancy. 

1883 found Newport News making good. This 
year the mammoth Elevator [A] was nearing completion, 
and two great merchandise piers known then as Piers 1 
and 2, (burned in 1897) were in service. A small brick 
hotel (Newport News General Hopital) was housing the 
officials, during the erection of "Hotel Warwick, and the 
Casino and ;a number of tenement rows were under con- 
struction. During the following year the coal pier (pier 
3) and a weekly newspaper, the Commercial, were added 
to the growing town. 

In 1886 the first self-contained private residence was 
built at 2506 Washington Avenue to keep the four busi- 
ness houses on the same thoroughfare from being too 
lonely, and the whole town attended religious services in 
two frame structures, one a Baptist chapel, on the 
corner of Thirtieth street and Washington avenue, and 
the Union Chapel on Twenty-seventh street and West 
avenue. 



56- 

During the late summer of 1888 plans were con- 
summated for the building of Dry Dock No. 1, and work 
thereon was immediately begun. In the following 
spring the dry dock was formerly opened with impress- 
ive ceremonies attended by General Fitzhugh Lee, then 
governoi of Virginia, there being docked the United 
States monitor Puritan and a large barge, the Alpha, of 
the C. & O. railway. 

To properly handle the work coming into the dry 
dock a small shipyard was projected in 1889, and the 
Bigerow yard, at Newburg-on- Hudson was purchased 
and brought to Newport News. The building damaged 
by fire on Dec. 25th last being one of the buildings 
standing on the Hudson and removed to this yard with 
the machinery. It is curious to note that Mr. Bigelow 
at one time owned a large portion of the famous plan- 
tation, Ultimaria, spoken of in these pages. 

Thus equipped the ambitious little shipyard in 
1890 undertook the construction of a large ocean-going 
tug, El Toro, for the Morgan Line, succeeding so well 
that it built the great ships, El Sud, El Norte, El 
Cid and El Rio for the same line. El Cid became the 
Nictheroy, famous in the Brazilian navy. 

In the summer of 1893 the shipyard received its first 
naval work, having awarded the contract of the Wil- 
mington, Helena and Nashville, gunboats. In the fol- 
lowing winter the liner New York was first docked at 
the yard. Two years later preparation was made for 
building the greater fighting machines, and in March 
1898, when the country was in the eager expectancy 
preceding the inevitable clash with Spain, the Kear- 
searge and Kentucky, two monster battleships, were 
launched in one day, this feat in shipbuilding causing 
world-wide comment. 

As in the case of the shipyard so it is with nearly 



_57j 

eveiy phase of human endeavor. Thus in 1890 the 
Bank ot Newport News timidly opened its doors with 
a capital of $50,000, to-day there are six banks and as 
many trust companies with aggregate capital nearing 
$5,000,000; when in 1886 two frame buildings, 20x30 
provided accomodations for the school population of 
possilly one hundred, to-day five great schoolhouses 
are inadequate to the needs of five thousand children 
(exceeding the entire population of Newport News in 
1892!) even when several excellent private institutions 
are absorbing large numbers; in 1882 a little shed rep- 
resented the place ot religious worship, to-day church 
property has passed the million dollar mark, the most 
prominent denominations occupying costly buildings, 
while the lesser ones are multiplying so fast that one 
can hardly follow them; when in 1883 a little three- 
story hotel furnished accommodations for the boarding 
and bachelor population of the embryo seaport, to-day 
a half-dozen great hostelries are taxed with their grow- 
ing clientele, augmented by a great traveling public. 

And so is all aiong the line of advance. Whether 
we are concerning ourselves with the diminutive col- 
umns of the "Wedge," a short-lived little weekly 
printed on an amateur press in 1882, or of the Newport 
News dailies of to-day; whether a general country store 
sold the necessaries of life only in the early day or con- 
template a trip through the department stores on Wash- 
ington avenue; whether a trip to Hampton was an under 
taking to be left to the mercy of the Lord, or the exact 
schedule of the electric line linking the two cities— -all tell 
a story of advance which to the world seems extraordar- 
ily short, while to an old resident, who has seen things 
spring up in a night, as it were, twenty-six years seem s 
to be a long, long time! 

The chief colonial consideration regarding Newport 
News is the derivation of its name. Captain Newport 



58 ______ 

is given the credit for the first two syllables, of cours pB 
but the terminal "News" is undoubtedly a corruption of 
the French word "Ness" which John Smith in tiis won- 
derfully exact maps of Virginia gives to this point making 
it Newport's Ness, i e Newport's Point. But to the col- 
onist "news" was more euphonious and which, as we 
shall presently _ see, equally appropriate, and was al- 
lowed to remain. 

But for the great projection of Newport News and 
Mulberry Island the north shore of the James from 
Jamestown to its mouth would be comparatively 
straight. This fact was early taken into account and a 
watchman stationed at each of these points, by lighting 
their beacon fires, would send their tidings of good or evil 
import to the settlements above. 

The apostrophe and the superfluous "s" became a 
a great bone of journalistic contention twenty years ago 
between Norfolk and Newport News, which the first 
named city magnanimously wanted us to keep (!) while 
this city claimed they were provincialisms and atdeast ob- 
solete. This is one instance where Norfolk wished this 
city to have something. 

Newport News will be celebrated for all time as the 
place of the remarkable exploits of the Merrimac in the 
few short hours in which she revolutionized naval war- 
fare on March 8th and 9th, 1862. At that time this 
city was an important Federal military depot and was 
securely fortified, the strongest being a large redoubt, 
which stood until 1894 a t the intersection of Hunting- 
ton avenue and Forty-third street. All of these works 
have now been razed. The Merrimac desired to attack 
them and steamed close in shore but could not elevate 
her guns high enough. She then struck the Cumberland. 



y*v 



V^A^. 




William & Mary College as Washington Knew it- 
Photographed BY THE AUTHOR FROM AN 
Old Print. 



ROAD GUIDE. 



FROM NEWPORT NEWS TO YORKTOWN. 
Via Big Bethel, 26 Miles. 

(1) North on Chesnut avenue to county road to 
Hampton, east one-fourth mile beyond Green- 
lawn, left turn and cross railroad. Continue 
north three miles, left turn to road marked with 
telephone poles. Bear left three miles above 
Bethel and follow telephone wires. Sandy, very 
heavy, poor and two bad hills; or 

(2) North on Huntington avenue to Fifty-fifth, 
east to Virginia, north on road three miles to five 
hundred yards in edge of pine thicket, right turn, 
two miles, left turn and continue on as 1. Sandy 
swampy, very poor; or 

(3) North as in 2, straight away to schoolhouse in 
sight of Morrisons station, bear right, cross tracks 
at station, continue three miles, right turn pass- 
ing Broken Bridge, severest place of the action at 
Big Bethel. Left turn at fork with two stores, 
continue as 1 and 2. |To Morrisons fair; remain- 
der swampy, sandy. 

TO YORKTOWN, TO PASS DENBIEGH, 24 MILES. 

(4) Proceed as in 3. Left turn at schoolhouse, 
[WARNING: high tides with east wind may make 
road impassable at mill pond half-mile past school- 
house, in which case: continue past station as in 
3, three miles, TURN LEFT, continue, bear left, 
recross track at Oyster Point station and rejoin 
Warwick road at Denbiegh church.] Continue 
and recross tracks at Lee Hall, bear right at old 
brick church [Lebanon] bear left one mile past, 
right turn at Halstead's Point. Continue east on 
road marked with telephone wires. Good to Lee 
Hall, fair to Halstead's Point. Sandy and poor 
in vicinity of Yorktown. 18 to 40-foot hills. 



TO WILLIAMSBURG PASSING YORKTOWN, 

36 MILES. 
(5) Proceed as in 1, 2, 3, 4. Continue west from 
Yorktown, right turn at HalsteacTs Point, follow 
telephone wires. Fair, two 50-foot Hills. Route 
4 best for motors' 

TO SAME ON WARWICK ROAD. 
[6] Route 4 to Lebanon church, left turn. Great 
hill one mile from church. Sandy, abominable. 

NOTE: Road to New Kent, Stone House and White 
House passes out of Williamsburg to the right of the 
College. This is the famous "King's Highway," and all 
of the branch roads leading to the places of interest be- 
fore spoken of in this volume are plainly indicated by 
guide posts. The roads on the upper portion of the Pe- 
ninsula, by reason of the higher, better drained land, are 
uniformly better than in the viu nity of Hampton. The 
country is also very rolling, and fifteen miles above Wil- 
liamsburg it is quite broken. 

Williamsburg, aided by the National government is 
building a boulevard to Jamestown, from which the road 
to Green Spring joins, which is also plainly indicated. 
This boulevard passes out of Williamsburg to the left of 
the College and unites with the road four miles above 
fading to the upper Charles City county points. 

Bicycle repair shops at Yorktown and Williams- 
burg. 



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